Grapefruit Conquered at Last (Aug, 1933)

Finally, after countless lives lost and ruined, the Grapefruit wars are over.

Grapefruit Conquered at Last
AT LAST the grapefruit has heen conquered. The weapon employed in the conquest is an “umbrella spoon” shown at left, which automatically opens into a large shield when you gouge down into the meat of the fruit. When you raise the spoon to your mouth the shield closes.

In 1933, Modern Mechanics magazine proposed to end the “grapefruit wars” with a spoon that had a cocktail-umbrella-like shield to protect one’s eyes from errant squirts: AT LAST the grapefruit has heen conquered. The weapon employed in the conquest …

[…] It’s good to know there are more than one way conquer a grapefruit. Grapefruit Eaters Use Squirt Guard At last someone has come to the rescue of grapefruit lovers by building a handy squirt guard. Invented in England, the hemisphere of celluloid clamps over a half grapefruit as a protection against stray juices. | Permalink […]

[…] There was a brief flirtation with the possibility of the cocktail umbrella being elevated beyond its humble function as a garnish when some bright spark came up with the idea of the Umbrella Spoon. […]

Rikard Nilsson says: December 14, 20072:33 pm

uhm…it would seem that if the umbrella closes when no pressure is on the spoon it would close over the “head” of the spoon itself, making the whole thing pointless really. Notice the size of the umbrella and the proximity to the “head” and you’ll see what I mean.

[…] granted, they *do* have this for grapefruits now. Wish there was an equivalent for love. Filed under: Short Thoughts […]

aztrozon says: January 27, 20083:28 pm

WOW I just realized that this invention is very similar to the Japanese peoples innventions of today. We were experimenting in creativity 50 years ago the same way that the Japanese are experimenting with creativity. So in terms of creativity would that not make the Japanese a few years behind the US.